The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog

Breastfeeding stand-up.

This clip cracked me up.  Hope you enjoy it!

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Don't want no fancy funeral...

...just one like this.

Thanks to reader Sarah for this one.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

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I donated milk for this research.

A few years ago, when we were living in California, I donated milk for this research, which was being conducted through UC Berkeley and UC Davis.  I pumped at work, and then met the researcher on a street corner outside of the State Capitol building - we both joked that it felt like a drug deal!

From what I recall, the researchers took my milk, infected it with HIV, and then conducted the flash pasteurization method you see in the video.  They knew at that point that this method would kill the HIV, but were testing to see how much of the nutrition remained stable in the milk after the pasteurization. 

Many of you probably know about the complex issue of HIV and breastfeeding in the developing world.  Breastfeeding is a key route of transmission of HIV, but for women living in areas with unclean water supplies, not breastfeeding is an even more dangerous proposition.  The risk of death in the early months of life from diarrhea and other infections is considered greater than risk of HIV infection.  For that reason, the World Health Organization and UNICEF recommends not breastfeeding only "when replacement feeding is acceptable, feasible, affordable, sustainable and safe."  A key appears to be exclusive breastfeeding, as recent studies have confirmed.  One theory is that the use of supplements creates tiny fissures in the baby's gastrointestinal tract, which allow the HIV virus to enter the baby's system via breastmilk.   

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Breastfeeding videos on this blog.

So there's a little quirk in Typepad, which I use to blog, which doesn't allow me to go back and edit old posts which have embedded YouTube videos.  All of the text disappears when I try.  Back when I posted some of these I didn't have a videos category so I'm listing them here to get them listed.

If you're a newer reader of this blog you may want to check these out! 

• Seven women who changed the world
  
• Wouldn't you like to see this ad here?
• Formula for disaster
• Nurse-ins across America
• Sesame Street had it going on. This video is now back up!
• Nursing in a Hotsling
• They're lies!
• General anesthesia and breastfeeding
• Happy new year, everyone!
• Watch this one now in case it disappears (more Sesame Street)
• The Motherhood Manifesto
• More classic Sesame Street
• If Dr. Seuss had been a breastfeeding advocate
• The breast crawl (unfortunately, this one is no longer available)

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They're lies!

And speaking of weaning...

I meant to post this long ago, when it was on You Tube, but it was taken down due to copyright concerns (though, yes, there are many Family Guy episodes still up there).

Anyway, I found this on a personal website, and can't resist posting it.  So check it out while you can!

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General anesthesia and breastfeeding.

VideoJug: Does general anesthesia affect breastfeeding?

If only all breastfeeding advice was so clearly put.  I have to say that this not the advice I hear women given when they go in for a surgery.  Usually they're told to pump and dump for anywhere from 2 to 24 hours.

There's more good information on this topic here and here.  And for a post on breastfeeding and MRI or CT scans, see this post.  Thanks to Angela for posting about this a few months ago!

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Happy new year, everyone!

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Watch this one now in case it disappears.

Some of you may have heard that You Tube recently removed several breastfeeding videos for "terms of use violations."  Two of them were Sesame Street videos I posted on this blog (here and here), another showed the 'breast crawl,' and one was a montage (reposted and up for now) posted by the League of Maternal Justice.

It's not clear why the videos were removed.  Jen at The Lactivist has suggested that it could be due to the unauthorized use of copyrighted material (a violation of their terms of use).  She notes that You Tube has been cracking down on this more recently.  It is interesting, though, that hundreds of other Sesame Street videos remain on You Tube.  Is You Tube going the way of Facebook and My Space, or is this a question of copyright?

So, while this issue is rolling around be sure to check out this clip.  Its days may be numbered.  Another interesting note:  It looks like this segment was redone later and the breastfeeding clip was replaced with a bottle feeding one.  Would someone please wake me when it's 1974?

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The Motherhood Manifesto.

Last week I saw the film, "The Motherhood Manifesto," which was produced by Moms Rising.  A trailer is above, and you can find more clips here.

This film made me ponder, for the millionth time, how it's possible that we can have such wealth in this country and yet rank just about last in the industrialized world when it comes to basic policies like paid family leave and health care for children. 

The film points out, for example, that the only countries in the world with no paid maternity leave are Papua New Guinea, Lesotho, Swaziland, and the United States of America.  I meet more and more mothers who are returning to work at six weeks because they can't afford to take advantage of their unpaid Family Medical Leave Act leave.

Just think what could happen to breastfeeding rates if we had family leave policies like Canada, which provides 15 weeks of partial paid pregnancy leave, 35 weeks of partial paid maternity/paternity leave, which can be extended by up to an additional 15 weeks of sick leave.  I know, I know, we are so different from Canadians.  That could never work here.  I mean, they say "aboat" and play that curling thing, and um...yeah.

After the film my friend sitting next to me asked, "which part made you the most mad?"  We both felt that the health care for children segment was the most disturbing.  The film paints some good portraits of the effect of our health care system on families, pointing out that half of all bankruptcies are related to medical issues - and most of those families have insurance.  As you probably know, we are the only Western nation without universal health care coverage, despite spending more per person on health care than any country in the world.

Not realizing that there would be screenings in my community, I purchased my own copy, which Moms Rising offers at cost.  If you have a moms group which would like to watch it, send me your name and address.  There are suggestions on how to hold a house party here, though you really don't have to do anything but show the movie.  I may ask you to send it along to the next group, so please only respond if you'd be willing to do that.

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More classic Sesame Street.

Sesame Street was so ahead of its time. 

Remember this simple but powerful clip?  Thanks to Amy at Musings of a Crunchy Domestic Goddess, who passed along the link, here's another breastfeeding clip from Sesame Street, circa 1977.  In that year the rate of "any breastfeeding" in the hopsital was just under 45%, compared to around 70% now.  I just have to wonder if you'd see this on the air today.

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